More

LONDON, July 31- European cable operator Liberty Global said it had increased its stake in ITV to 9.9 percent via a hedging deal, but said it still had no intention of taking over Britain's biggest free-to-air commercial TV company. Liberty, the owner of pay-TV company Virgin Media, took a 6.4 percent stake in ITV last year, and in September said it had no plans to...

LONDON, July 24- Vodafone said an acceleration in quarterly sales growth should continue through the year, showing its recovery is moving on to a stronger footing and boosting its shares on Friday. Shares in Vodafone were up 3.4 percent in afternoon trading, topping the FTSE 100 Index leader board. Vodafone, with 449 million customers around the world in markets...

LONDON, July 22- Competition is ramping up in Britain's broadband market, where providers have cut prices in the last three months to combat a sales slowdown, according to the fourth biggest player TalkTalk, whose shares dropped sharply. TalkTalk, providing the first trading update for the three months to June ahead of rivals BT and Sky, said the overall broadband...

*Vodafone, Liberty in early talks on asset swap. COLOGNE, Germany, June 12- Liberty Global and Vodafone believe European regulators have become more relaxed about possible consolidation in the cable industry, the heads of their German cable businesses told Reuters, as the groups discuss an asset swap. We see that politicians support this trend in order to...

LONDON, June 5- Vodafone, the world's second-biggest mobile telecoms company, said on Friday it was in talks with Europe's largest cable operator, Liberty Global, about an exchange of "selected assets" but was not discussing a full-blown merger. "Vodafone is not in discussions with Liberty Global concerning a combination of the two companies," the company said in a...

LONDON, June 5- Britain's top share index fell on Friday and was heading for its worst weekly performance in nearly six months, mirroring a broad sell-off in Europe, with some food retailers losing ground after Deutsche Bank cut its estimate for the UK grocery market. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was down 0.8 percent at 6,805.10 points by 0822 GMT, in line with...

LONDON, June 5- Vodafone, the world's second-biggest mobile operator, said on Friday it was in talks with cable company Liberty Global regarding an exchange of "selected assets" but was not discussing a full-blown merger, a combination which has been the subject of long-running speculation. "Vodafone is not in discussions with Liberty Global concerning a...

LONDON, May 28- Some of the biggest investors in Vodafone say they are open to a European tie-up with Liberty Global, as the British company is now in a stronger position to negotiate a deal with John Malone's cable group. The positive reaction stands in contrast to previous occasions when talk of a deal sent shares in Vodafone tumbling on fears that it, as the suitor,...

*Small-cap benchmark Russell 2000 to add, delete components. *$5 trillion benchmarked to Russell indexes. NEW YORK, May 29- Investors trying to capitalize on the annual tweaks to the makeup of Russell stock indexes may produce a rush of transactions worth over $40 billion in the final moments of trading on Friday, June 26, when those changes are formalized.

LONDON, May 28- Some of the biggest investors in Vodafone say they are open to a European tie-up with Liberty Global, as the British company is now in a stronger position to negotiate a deal with John Malone's cable group. The positive reaction stands in contrast to previous occasions when talk of a deal sent shares in Vodafone tumbling on fears that it, as the suitor,...

FRANKFURT/ MAINZ, Germany, May 27- Germany started an auction of radio frequencies for mobile phone network operators, hoping to raise billions of euros to help improve a national broadband network that has fallen behind those of poorer countries such as Hungary, Portugal and Spain. "The auction will point the way for the development of mobile services in Germany,"...

FRANKFURT, May 27- Germany starts an auction of radio frequencies for mobile phone network operators on Wednesday, hoping to fill state coffers with billions of euros which it plans to use to help improve the country's fast broadband network. Fifteen years later and the number of network operators competing for the mix of 4 G frequencies has been reduced from...

*London and Wall St closed for holiday on Monday. LONDON, May 22- European shares hovered near three-week highs on Friday, boosted by a dip in the euro on currency markets, although luxury goods stocks underperformed after weak sales figures from Richemont. European equities have rallied this year on the back of a government bond-buying program and record low...

LONDON, May 22- Britain's top share index hit its highest level in 10 days on Friday, driven by a jump in network operator Vodafone's shares, which hit a 14- year high on the back of potential merger activity. Vodafone rose 4 percent, following upgrades from Citi and Deutsche Bank. Both brokers cited comments earlier in the week from Liberty Global chairman John...

*London and Wall St closed for holiday on Monday. LONDON, May 22- European shares slipped off three-week highs on Friday, with luxury goods group Richemont falling on weak sales, while a rebound in the euro also pegged back the region's stock markets. European equities have rallied this year on the back of a government bond buying programme and record low interest...

*Vodafone shares gain, Richemont slips. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, along with other central bankers, will be addressing an ECB Forum in Portugal later in the day. Attention will also fall on Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, who is due to speak on the U.S. economic outlook before the Greater Providence...

*Altice also interested in Time Warner Cable- sources. In addition to Suddenlink, the seventh-largest U.S. cable player, Altice has also approached No.2 provider Time Warner Cable over a deal, sources said, creating a potential bidding war with John Malone's Charter Communications. Altice Chief Executive Dexter Goei declined to comment on Time Warner, saying...

LONDON, May 19- Britain's Vodafone posted a rise in quarterly sales for the first time in nearly three years on Tuesday in the clearest sign yet that Europe's mobile market is edging towards recovery. That follows updates from the likes of Telefonica and Deutsche Telekom which also showed signs of gradual, if slow, improvement in Europe. Vodafone, which has 446...